Whiteboard: Mark 10:46-52

Can you see it?

Or perhaps the better question is this: Can you read it?

I can't tell you how many people have walked into my office this week, taken one look at the Whiteboard and just assumed this was any old ordinary eye-chart that I had drawn up there.

But it isn't.

For starters, what eye-chart do you know of that starts with a big "I" instead of the ubiquitous "E"?

So take another look, and ask yourself, "Can I read it?"

If you still can't see it, let me give you a hand. It reads, "I ONCE WAS BLIND BUT NOW I SEE"

As soon as I tell you that, you can't see the eye-chart any other way! It is hard to see it at first blush because the letters are arranged a little funny and you just think they are randomly strewn up there. Yet the message has been right there in front of us the whole time!

It is enough to make you wonder what other things we've been blind to all along. What important, crucial, vital, life-giving things are right there in front of us and yet the they fall into our blind spot?

Our Gospel Reading this week presents us with the story of Blind Bartemaeus. It is a story of healing, yes, but of so much more too. You see, once he is healed scripture tells us that Bartemaeus "followed Jesus on the way." So it is an invitation to not only see the world with new eyes (like Bartemaeus) but to follow Christ Jesus on the way (like Bartemaeus!).

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Mark 10:46-52 --The Healing of Blind Bartimaeus

They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher, let me see again.’Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.